"When my husband and I were first married 37 years ago, my mother-in-law came to visit us in Pasadena.

"She asked me to take her to Los Angeles to visit 'my dear old friend from Maine for tea.' I drove her to a lovely apartment building and a young woman was waiting for us outside. We went to the penthouse at 3 p.m.

"The elevator doors opened and there, in front of us, was Bette Davis jumping up and down and ecstatic to see my mother-in-law! I was the only one who had tea! They had vodka!

"They shared stories of their wild time in Maine together when Bette was married to Gary Merrill! I tried to tell a story, but Bette Davis hushed me up !! She said, 'Listen!' We were there for four hours!

"As we were leaving, Bette told me that if I lived to be her age and had close friends that I could count on two hands, I would be very lucky. She said since she was a movie star, she was lucky to have friends she could count on one hand!

"She told a story of when they were on the board of the symphony in Portland, Maine, my mother-in-law wrote Fidel Castro and asked him for his hat to be auctioned! And he sent it! 'None of those old biddys understood what a value it was, so I had to buy it!'

"Bette Davis still had it! And she fished it out of the drawer!! This dirty old fatigue hat! When we left and the elevator doors closed, I said, 'Why didn't you tell me your dear old friend from Maine was Bette Davis?' She said, 'Darling, that was a test!!! Anyone would've taken me to have tea with Bette Davis. You passed!' "